AUD Gets Leg Up Ahead of Today's CPI Report
AUD
The Aussie dollar opens higher against majors after RBA Governor Bullock warned of further interest rate hikes in her first speech as Governor last night. The ASX finished yesterday's session higher by 0.2%, while Asian equities were mixed with the CSI 300 up 0.4%, the Hang Seng down by 1% and Nikkei up by 0.2%. Today, we have the highly anticipated Aussie CPI for the quarter and the year, expected at 1.1% and 5.3% respectively. In her speech last night, RBA Governor Bullock said the central bank "will not hesitate" to raise interest rates further if there's a material upgrade to its inflation outlook, being her strongest reference yet to the threat of mounting price pressures. Depending on the data at 11:30am today, we could see some movement for the AUD.
USD
AUDUSD opens slightly higher this morning at 0.6354 while the Dow Jones gained 0.6%, the S&P 500 up by 0.7% and the NASDAQ up by 0.9%. Early this morning we had the Flash Manufacturing and Flash Services PMIs. Both came in higher than expected at 50.0 and 50.9 from 49.8 and 50.1 respectively. We also had the Richmond Manufacturing Index that came in at expectations of 3 from a previous level of 5. Multiple data pieces are coming up throughout the week for the US, but all eyes are on the Advance GDP q/q and Unemployment Claims tomorrow night at 11:30pm, which are both expected to increase.
EUR
AUDEUR opens much higher than yesterday, moving from the low 59s to 0.5999. European equities closed the session stronger with the DAX and CAC up by 0.5% and 0.6% respectively. Yesterday, we had major European data come in mixed with the French Flash manufacturing PMI come in at 42.6 from 44.2, and the French Flash Services at 46.1 from 44.4. We also had the German Flash Manufacturing come in at 40.7 from 39.6 and the German Flash Services PMI at 48 from 50.3 which brought some movement for the Euro. Tonight, we have the German ifo Business Climate expected to rise by 0.2% to 85.9 while markets remain focused on tomorrow's European Central Bank interest rate decision.
GBP
AUDGBP also opened a lot stronger at 0.5224 with the FTSE finishing the session up by 0.2%. Yesterday's Claimant Count Change print exceeded expectations of 2.3k, arriving at 20.4K. Flash and Services PMI’s coming in mixed at 45.2 from 44.3 and 49.2 from 49.3 respectively. No data for the GBP today, with the next major event being MPC Member Cunliffe speaking on Friday evening.
NZD
AUDNZD opens up stronger this morning at 1.0888. No major pieces of data were out yesterday off the NZD bank holiday on Monday. No data until the RBNZ's Statement of Intent on Friday.